Sustainability Tools Amanda Gallagher, BRE Ireland, Dublin

Contents Sustainability Tools Developments & Masterplans Buildings Energy Materials Waste Post Occupancy Evaluation

Sustainability Issues in the Built Environment Site Selection Planning & Design ConstructionBuilding Operation Demolition Greenfield or Brownfield Site Impact on Natural Habitat Existing infrastructure (roads/energy/tran sport networks) Proximity to amenities and populated areas Economic centres/creation of jobs Probability of Flooding Noise Assessment Stakeholder Consultation Orientation Low Carbon Design Placemaking & Community Water Conservation Life Cycle Costing Fitness for Purpose Lighting Heating Ventilation Infrastructure Travel Plans Material Specification Site Ecology & Landscape Design Flood Risk Prevention Polluting Chemicals and Substances Construction Site Impacts Site Waste Management Energy & Water Use Transport Emissions Dust & Pollution Considerate Constructors Sustainable Materials Recycled Aggregates Local Labour/Workforce Commissioning and Building Handover Building User Guide Energy Use Water Use Maintainability Durability User Controls Occupant Satisfaction Occupant Productivity (non domestic buildings) Acoustic Performance Recyclable Materials Demolition Audits Disposal of Materials Avoiding obsolescence Flexibility Hazardous Materials

Why do we need specific guidance on sustainability? Definitions are not always that helpful in practice: –Sustainable buildings definition (SBTG): “…as small an eco-footprint as possible, economic to run over its whole life cycle and fits well with the needs of the local community” Need to define what you want to achieve in your context Education, training and awareness raising Means of assessing design options and applications Level playing field for developers Showing the future direction of policy

How can sustainability tools help? Developers / architects / design teams: –What is the range of issues to consider? –How are they linked together? –What standards and advice are out there? –What might decision makers expect? –What does good practice look like – marketing opportunities? –How can I do more – simple “wins”? –What might I have to consider in the future?

Sustainability Assessment Tools Development

Tools Masterplanning/Developments –Sustainability Checklists –Greenprint –BREEAM Communities Buildings –BREEAM/Code for Sustainable Homes –LEED/Greenstar –Energy (SBEM/SAP, PHPP etc. etc.) –Environmental Design and Life Cycle Assessment Tool (ENVEST) –Materials (Environmental Profiles & Green Guide to Specification) –Construction site waste (Smart Waste) Post Occupancy Evaluation

Sustainability in Masterplans & Developments. Sustainability Checklists for Developments Greenprint BREEAM Communities

What can Sustainability Checklists cover? Site choice –Greenfield, destruction of natural habitat Development design and layout – Regional Sustainability Checklists / Climate Change Tool kits / DQIs Individual building performance – BREEAM / Ecohomes Elements of construction process – ICE Demolition Protocol Procurement –The OGC Achieving Excellence Procurement Guide Post-build operation and management –BRE/Carbon Trust / EST guides … and any combination!

Scored sustainability checklist - question:

What we have learned in other work: Checklists are an increasingly common approach. SEEDA/BRE regional checklist recognised as part of the Sustainable Communities agenda – Egan Commission and SBTG recommended that it should be rolled out to all regions in England (extensive tailoring now underway in each region). Developers will not fill them in unless required to – must be a level playing field. Need to quantify what you want – or specify a process. Ecobuild conference reiterated this from both architects and developers. Level playing field issue again. Minimum, good and best practice scoring enable higher standards to be easily specified for more sensitive sites.

GreenPrint - Bringing it all together Climate Change Resources Transport Ecology Business Placemaking Community Buildings

What is GreenPrint? Methodology to maximise the potential for sustainable communities Workshop led approach involving the whole stakeholder team Bespoke – can be tailored to individual client needs Sets out clear understandable sustainability objectives and benchmarks Prioritises sustainability issues most important to a development Independent appraisal of final plans Provides an overall GreenPrint Score and Rating

BREEAM Communities Similar to Greenprint but ‘fixed’ criteria. Not Bespoke Awarded a BREEAM Rating and certified by the BREEAM Office. Planning tool for developers and local authorities. Measures: - –Climate Change & Energy –Community –Placemaking –Buildings –Transport and movement –Ecology –Resources –Business

Buildings BREEAM Code for Sustainable Homes LEED Greenstar

What is BREEAM? BRE Environmental Assessment Method Certification scheme Measure of sustainability Independent & credible Holistic Customer focused Credits and evidence based

BREEAM Categories Management Energy Water Land Use and Ecology Health and Wellbeing Transport Materials Waste Pollution

Scoring Management Health and Wellbeing Energy Transport Water Materials Waste Land Use and Ecology Pollution Management Health and Wellbeing Energy Transport Water Materials Waste Land Use and Ecology Pollution Assessment Issues BREEAM Score PASS30% GOOD45% VERY GOOD55% EXCELLENT70% OUTSTANDING85% Environmental Weightings Single Score Category Scores

Mandatory Credits (Minimum Standards) Aims: –To avoid that a building achieves an Excellent rating, but does not achieve compliance with straightforward BREEAM issues e.g. storage of recyclable waste or installation of a water meter. –Comparability across different schemes and BREEAM buildings The higher the BREEAM rating the more mandatory requirements there are and progressively harder they become.

Innovation Credits Additional recognition for ‘innovation in the field of sustainable performance’, above and beyond what is currently recognised and rewarded in BREEAM Two ways of obtaining Innovation Credits: 1.By meeting exemplary level performance requirements for an existing BREEAM issue 2.Where an application is made to BRE Global to have a particular building feature or process recognised as ‘innovative’

BREEAM BREEAM Manuals available on the BREEAM Website

Code for Sustainable Homes The Code for Sustainable Homes is an environmental assessment method for rating and certifying the performance of new homes Assessment is a two stage process – design and post construction The Code provides an all-round measure of sustainability against nine categories of sustainable design A Code rating became mandatory for all new build homes from 1 st May 2008 and has been operational in England since April 2007 –A code assessment results in a rating of between 1 and 6 and a certificate is provided with the dwelling –Non-assessed dwellings will be accompanied by a nil-rated certificate

Mandatory Performance Levels The Code covers nine categories of sustainable design –Energy/CO2 –Water –Materials –Surface Water Runoff –Waste –Pollution –Health and Wellbeing –Management –Ecology Six of these contain mandatory performance levels Energy and Water have increasing minimum standards for each Code level

Mandatory Performance Standards Entry Level requirements for: –Energy –Water –Materials –Surface Water run-off –Waste Failure to meet the mandatory requirements will result in a zero rating

BREEAM International UK Rep. Ireland The Netherlands Denmark Poland Norway Turkey Iceland Romania Spain Sweden Israel Abu Dhabi Algiers Dubai Czech Republic France Germany Hungary Italy Luxembourg Lebanon Malaysia Morocco Belgium Switzerland Philippines Poland Qatar Romania USA

LEED US Green Building Council Green Building Certification Scheme Credit based Assessment Method Awards performance in –Sustainable Sites – Water Efficiency – Energy & Atmosphere – Materials & Resources – Indoor Environmental Quality – Locations & Linkages – Awareness & Education – Innovation in Design – Regional Priority

Greenstar Green Building Council Australia (GBCA) Environmental Rating System for Buildings in Australia Measures: - –Management –Indoor Environment Quality –Energy –Transport –Water –Materials –Land Use & Ecology –Emissions –Innovation

Energy SBEM SAP Passive House Planning Package (PHPP)

SBEM

SAP

PassivHaus – the technical definition The design heat load is limited to the load that can be transported by the minimum required ventilation air 10 W/m 2 heating load calculation is quite simple: 1 m³/(m²h) × 30 °C × 0.33 Wh/(m³K) = 10 W/m² minimum ventilation rate of 0.4 ac/h is required for indoor air quality, that results in at least 1 m³/(m²h) being delivered by the ventilation system maximum heat input provided via the fresh incoming air specific heat capacity of the air

Passivhaus Planning Package (PHPP)

ENVEST 2 Environmental Design & Life Cycle Assessment Tool Whole Life Costing –Environmental Design Vs Financial Impact Predicts Environmental Impact –Materials –Heating –Cooling –Building Operation

Materials : Measuring environmental impact

SMARTWaste Waste benchmarking Waste reduction Pre-demolition audit Reuse and recycling site locator Related training, consultancy and guidance

Post Occupancy Evaluation – Measuring Sustainability Post Construction Energy, water and sustainability audits –Monitoring and recording consumption levels to allow benchmarking BREEAM assessments –Determining if design stage commitments have been made Design Quality Method –Evaluating architecture, environmental engineering, user comfort, whole life costs, detail design and user satisfaction Occupant experience –Questionnaires, focus groups and interviews to examine how the occupants interact with the building Financial analysis –Cost benefit analysis

Further Information South East of England Development Agency Example Checklist on line - checklist.co.uk/index-17.htm BREEAM and Ecohomes Regional Sustainablity Checklist for developments